Online banking customers are the happiest, new figures show

Heavy digital spending by banks appears to be leaving customers happier, with new figures showing consumers are more likely to be satisfied when dealing with banks through a website or smart phone rather than in person.

Figures from Roy Morgan on Monday underlined the rapid growth of online banking, with more customers switching to managing their money digitally.

Roy Morgan published figures for 10 bank brands, including some owned by the majors, such as St George and Bankwest.

The report found 90.4 per cent of customers were satisfied with the experience of online banking via a website, while mobile banking applications were close behind at 89.9 per cent.

Satisfaction levels with branches had improved, and were only slightly lower at 88.4 per cent.

As well as overhauling their IT systems, banks are spending millions revamping their branches to be more automated and less costly to run.

Phone banking had the lowest satisfaction rating of 79.9 per cent.

The director of industry communications at Roy Morgan, Norman Morris, said the biggest users of online banking tended to be customers in the top fifth of income earners.

"Nearly three quarters of this high-potential group conduct internet banking using [their bank's] website, making it imperative to understand functionality needs, reliability and satisfaction with this critical segment," Mr Morris said.

The numbers also highlighted a gradual decline in the use of branches and phone banking as digital banking grows.

Digital banking – through a website or a smart phone – had been used by 62.2 per cent of customers in the past month, up from 58.6 per cent two years ago.

Mobile banking is growing especially fast: 33.6 per cent of customers had used a smart phone or other device to do their banking in the past month, up from 26.2 per cent.

Just under a third of customers used branches in an average month, down from 35.5 per cent two years earlier.